GE Healthcare and Formlabs, have announced a collaboration aimed to clinicians to make 3D printed, patient-specific models from imaging data at a lower cost.
The anatomical models can allow the combination of hands-on and visual communication and coordination amongst radiologists, surgeons, trainees, and patients around the world.
Using the GE Healthcare Advantage Workstation (AW) visualisation tools, radiologists can produce models of normal and pathological anatomy using automation techniques that will speed up the pre-3D printing preparation work by taking advantage of the AW’s diagnostic workflow
Radiologists specialising in cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, neurology, and other areas will use a GE Healthcare/Formlabs bundle, which includes GE Healthcare’s AW and Formlabs hardware plus materials.
Combined with technology from Formlabs, including the Form 3B printer, PreForm print preparation software, and over 20 resins, radiologists and biomedical engineers will be able to serve various surgical specialties with a single workflow. New Formlabs features could save time, including the ability to start and monitor prints remotely, as well as the introduction of Light Touch Supports that allow for nearly immediate support removal.
R Scott Rader, general manager of GE Healthcare Additive Solutions, said: “When time is of the essence, GE Healthcare solutions help clinical imaging specialists get the diagnosis correct quickly and push the critical information they create into the hands of the broader care team. At the same time, patients in the information age are playing a more critical role every year in their care, but simply presenting imaging data to patients as grayscale ‘slices’ through the body can create more confusion than answers. The virtual reality renderings clinical imagers see every day in radiology reading rooms on AW can now be exported via AW 3D Suite in seconds, imported into Formlabs PreForm, and printed right at the site of care to add the sense of touch to what members of the care team see. This first step with Formlabs can help break down time and cost barriers to adoption of on-premises printing while empowering richer communication amongst care teams and their patients.”
Gaurav Manchanda, director of healthcare at Formlabs, said: “Formlabs is proud to collaborate with GE Healthcare, a true pioneer and leader in medical imaging, as both organisations share an aim to support the practice of medicine and the pursuit of precision health. This collaboration represents an important milestone for the medical 3D printing community and will hopefully serve as a catalyst for its growth. Our clinical customers should be able to serve more patients, more efficiently, with trusted, reliable, and intuitive technologies. We are excited to see how this collaboration and other innovations may lead to improved quality of care and patient satisfaction, as well as financial benefits for healthcare systems.”
